Taken
by MakingPaperCranes
Summary: Valkyrie is kidnapped and Skulduggery has to save her, rated T for maybe some of the later chapters but havent quite decided yet, i promise the story is better then the summary...
1. Chapter 1

hey this is just a shirt one i wanted to write about valkyrie being taken by a bad guy (Thats the man called Macabre btw) its not meant to be valddugery so if it comes across that way it was unintended :P

please read and reveiw because that would just be a lovley thing to do and it would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

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Taken

Valkyrie lifted her eyes from the book she was reading and checked the clock on the wall. It was 11pm. They'd been researching for 2 hours now, looking for anywhere that Macabre could hide. She thought she might have finally found something. She was sitting in Gordon's study, she had started talking to him but he disappeared a long time ago. She stood up and stretched smiling to herself. She started to call Skulduggery's name as she turned around only to stop mid shout and scowl.

"What are you doing here?" she growled at the man leaning against the frame of the door leading into Gordon's study. He was wearing beaten up old cowboy boots with well worn jeans tucked into them. His faded blue shirt came open slightly at the top revealing well tanned skin. She could smell the cheap cologne, and a faint musky smell of sweat emitting from him. As he raised his chin, his wavy sun kissed blonde hair shifted around his shoulders. He lifted his hand and pushed back the cowboy hat to real his aviator sunglasses, hiding his black holes for eyes. "Well a hello to you to" he said with a smirk rising to his lips. Sanguine.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

"well shoot , I just wanted to have a nice friendly chat, but now it seems that I'm not welcome " he drawled, pretending to be hurt, "oh well its seems I might just have to get down to the business I was paid to do, seems some man named Mac...Maca... oh darn it what was his name? Oh well, anyway he fancies having you as a house guest and he asked me to invite ya, along, don't cha feel special?"

Valkyries eyes widened when he mentioned macabre, she knew that couldn't be good. Sanguine just smiled at her expression. "Now when he mentioned your name I told him I wanted double, and do you know what? He agreed! Y'all must be pretty darn important to him! So if you don't mind I'm jut gunna..." he started towards her and she ran straight at him, he looked confused and then she barrelled straight at him knocking him to the ground.

She scrambled over him and used his shoulder to push off and started running down the corridor. She heard sanguine curse and then a crumbling noise. She stopped and Waited for him to pop up, as the floor at her feet started to crumble. She cursed and started running in the opposite direction and then she heard his foot steps behind her. He leaped and connected with Valkyrie and the tumble to the ground. She kicked him in the shins, and aimed a fist at his gut as he dodged it and hit a fist into her shoulder and she cried out. He pulled out his straight razor and held it to her throat and she stopped struggling. He just smirked down at her "now ya'll gunna come along quietly and stop hitting me in the face. He said he wanted you alive, but he didn't say nothing about undamaged." Just as she heard the crumbling ground beneath her, she saw skulduggery rounding the corner and calling out her name. Then it was impossibly dark. She could hear the roaring of ground all around her and then she felt a fist connect with her head and the noise stopped as she was unconscious. "Now I wann'ed to do that for a long time" sanguine muttered as the tunnelled deeper and deeper.

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sorry if it didnt make sense, or just wasnt very good butis meant to be in the middle of an investigation.

ahh well if you fancy sharing any thoughts theres a lovely little button down there thats just calling out to be clicked ...


	2. Chapter 2

hey sorry the chapters are quite short :/ but i forgot to mention last time the valkyrie was about 19 and had moved into gordons house, also Tanith is still good ( that bit broke my heart in the books)

i dont own any characters other then macabre and maybe some others in future chapters... read, reveiw and hopefully enjoy...

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Skulduggery looked up from the book he was reading. He thought he hear Valkyrie shout his name. He listened again but heard nothing so he got back to reading. They really needed to find Macabre's hiding place before it was too late. He sighed and got back up to look for another book which might help them, when he heard a commotion from Gordon's study. He thought maybe Valkyrie had knocked something over, and was deciding whether or not he should go and investigate when he heard her cry out. He dropped the book in his hands and sprinted up the stairs taking them three at a time, willing himself to go faster when he heard a familiar accent. He had his gun out of the holster when he turned the corner and cried out her name, when all he could see was her hand disappearing through the floor.

He ran to the spot, and true to judgement he saw the tell tale hairline cracks in the floor depicting the path of Billy-Ray Sanguine. He was livid. He knew that sanguine was working with Macabre but he had no idea he knew where Valkyrie lived! Now he had to find where he was hiding, he didn't know the specifics but what he had heard was that macabre was one twisted and sick piece of work, and now Valkyrie was stuck with him. He had to find her. Soon.

He dialled Tanith, ghastly and Fletcher and told them to get to Gordon's. He planned to wait for them out front but then he heard a voice. "Hello? Valkyrie? Anyone there?" skulduggery followed the sound of the voice to Gordon's office, and found echo Gordon standing next to the desk looking down at the open page in a book. "Gordon, did you see anything"

"Anything of what? No I've been in the crystal until now, I thought someone was out here and fond this on my desk" he pointed to the book lying out, "skulduggery what's wrong? Where's valkyrie?"

Skulduggery took his hat off and rubbed his hand over the top of his skull, and when he spoke it was with anguish and worry "I don't know, she's been taken and I have no idea as to where I might be. I have to find her before its too late."

Gordon studied his close friend and spoke softly "you will, I know you can save her"

Skulduggery's head flicked quickly at that and he now spoke with anger in his voice "how? She could be anywhere! And I don't have the first clue where to start looking! I don't know why he wants her, if he wants her alive or dead! I don't know anything!" his voice rising louder and louder by the moment.

Gordon just stood there, calmly and quietly and said "I think she knew"

"What?"

"The book that was left out, I think she found something" Gordon pointed at the desk "she was always too smart for her own good"

Skulduggery walked over to the desk, read the book and then walked quickly from the room, saying goodbye to Gordon as he left. He met Tanith and ghastly as they pulled up in the van and told of what had happened and how he now needed to go to Chinas library.

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sorry about any mistakes, but give me your thoughts, remeber that lovley little button i pointed out last time? its still there and its in need of being clicked, :)


	3. Chapter 3

hey am back, and the chapters are getting steadily longer :) sorry if it doesnt make sense or anything

well i hope you like it, i felt a bit dpressed after writing this one...

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Valkyrie woke. She felt pain in her wrists and arms, and her shoulders were screaming at her. She shook her head and tried to look around but all she could see was black. She moved her feet trying to shuffle around but found that she was suspended off of the ground with her arms above her head, shackled to the wall. She knew she was bound and she could feel the ebb of her magic just beyond her finger tips. She moaned as she felt the pain in her head where sanguine had hit her. She could feel the goose bumps rise on her bare arms as she realised she was without her protective coat. There was dampness about the air and she could smell mould and moss around her. She felt what she could of the wall and found that it was made of a rough stone. She just hung there, letting her head droop down, wondering how long she was going to be there, how long shed be alone, whether it would be better if she was alone, and what was going to happen when she was no on her own...

Her head flicked up when she heard footsteps, the first foreign sound in what could be hours or days. There was more than one pair of footsteps waiting to be let in. The door ground against the floor and the dim lighting hurt Valkyrie's eyes as she squinted at the ever growing crack in the darkness. Three people walked in and studied the helpless form that was now Valkyrie. She scowled at them. There were two men and a woman. The woman was shockingly beautiful down one side of her face. She had one breath taking bright emerald green eye, with full plump and luscious red lips. The right side of her face however was covered in horrific scars, light pink and silver lines distorting what once was beautiful. Her eye was gray and lifeless and her nose half ruined. She stood there with her green eye glittering in the foresight of pain and her lips curled into an unforgiving smile. The first of the two men was less of a man and more of a beast. He stood at least seven foot tall and nearly as wide, with muscles spanning almost every part of him. He too had battle scars but they were crossing his arms, making intricate patterns, and they seemed more like trophies then things to be ashamed of. His head had no hair but a swirling tattoo covering most of his face, with small eyes, large nose and thin lips; he was not what you would call attractive.

The third and by far the most terrifying was a man of average stature, with average build, dressed in a well tailored suit, which would put skulduggery to shame. He had brown hair and blue eyes, his features were mildly attractive once; before they were warped and changed by the years of pain that he had inflicted. They were now sharp and dangerous instead of handsome and loving like they once could've been.

Macabre was not especially terrifying in his looks but, in himself. He was the opposite of china sorrows; where as she made you fall to your knees and weep at her beauty, Macabre made you fall to your knees and weep in pain and make you beg him to stop.

He turned to Valkyrie "so how is my favourite house guest doing?"

"Well I'm not going to lie to you but your hospitality skills are not to be admired" she winced with almost every word but tried to keep a strong face on as she addressed him, "what do you want me for? Why are you keeping me here?"

"Now you see my dear Valkyrie, I'm sure you know by now the power that resides inside your bones. I'm sure you know that you could be the one cause of the destruction of the earth? That you in yourself are the worlds most deadly weapon?" he smiled at her horrified face when he realised what he was talking about, "well I plan on unleashing this weapon and using her for myself"

"What no, you can't! That's insane! Listen to me; I've seen what she can do! She will not spare you, she thinks of nothing but brutality and pain. She will not listen to you! We don't even know how she is triggered", she shouted at the insanity of the idea, and to hide the fear in her words. She remembered the last time she had been Darquesse and the nightmares still haunted her daily, of what she could unleash onto the world.

"well my dear but I think she might just make an exception towards the man who set her free, and if not she can simply be terminated, and as for the trigger, I thought that if we unleashed enough pain upon the host, then the guest would simply have to show her face"

Valkyries face fell into an expression of horror, and all three of the spectators smiled. "Now I'm not in much of a mood for getting my hands dirty, so I have enlisted the help of my two friends here. Now in order to make you as comfortable as possible, you simply ask these two for anything your heart desires and they will bow to your every need" she just stared at him. He then laughed and stated "of course, they will brutally torture you for a few hours, and whilst listening to your screams they may forget about the request, but I'm sure if you ask, they'll think upon it for a brief moment"

And with that Macabre left and the two lackeys left behind advanced upon her. "You don't know what you're trying to do" she tried to plead desperately "if you set her free she will kill you!"

The women spoke up with an elegant and almost childish voice "now how's about you shut that pretty little face of yours" she sneered at the word pretty and both of them started towards her again. The women pulled out a knife from behind her back and the man cracked his knuckles. They worked in perfect unison like they had done this a thousand times before. It would almost have been beautiful if it had not been so brutal. She slashed and he hit and kicked until all Valkyrie could feel was pain. They went at it for hours, listening to Valkyrie's guttural screams, as if it was the music that their ears craved.

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so tell me please, was it any good? ta chuck


	4. Chapter 4

_yeah i wrote this at like three am, and i dont think its any good, but hpefully the next one will be... if you read and reveiw, that would be a lovely little present right there :)

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"CHINA" he shouted through the door. He'd been hammering it so hard that Tanith thought it might come off of the hinges.

"what is it Mr. Pleasant?" china said once pulling the door open so fast, skulduggery had carried on knocking on the air for a few seconds after. Her voice was calm and collected when she spoke, but Tanith could tell by the flicker of her lips that she was trying hard to keep it together "what is it that is so important, that you have to come and break my door down at 1 o'clock in the morning, on my night off?"

"Valkyrie's been taken" there was just a flicker of shock across Chinas emotionless face, it was fleeting, but it was there. "And I need to know if you have heard anything about activity in graves head?"

"When was she taken? By who?"

"About an hour ago, and by Billy-ray sanguine, I believe he is working with Macabre"

"Oh" china seemed slightly sympathetic at the point. Slightly. "There was a small but noticeable amount; I have heard that there were three black sedans pulling into the town recently."

China barely had time to finish before skulduggery whipped round "Fletcher, do you know where that is? Please tell me you've been?" Fletcher just looked at him and then softly "no, I haven't. Skulduggery, how far away is it? How far away is she?" Fletcher's voice was becoming more strained.

China spoke up "Graves head is eight hours from here" Fletcher just stared, a distraught look on his face.

"Right, well then, erm... we should set off. You three take the van and I'll take the Bentley" skulduggery spoke quietly, no body moved.

"Skul..." ghastly tried.

"We have to leave now, before it's too late!" his voice rising in anger. He turned and walked quickly from the room as the other three trailed behind him. This, Fletcher thought, is going to be the longest eight hours of my life.

They had been in the van for four and a half hours when Fletcher finally spoke up, "is she going to be okay?" he said quietly. "I don't know what I'll do if she isn't"

Tanith just nodded he head but remained silent, Ghastly spoke up in a quiet attempt at a soothing tone "valkyrie is strong. She'll be fine. We'll save her"

Fletcher nodded from the back and Tanith placed her hand on Ghastly's and gave him a small smile. The van sped up slightly.

It was another hour before anyone spoke again, "What's Graves head?" Fletcher asked.

"It's a small abandoned town, which was built around a lake. It used to have a magical population before the war but it was the site of one of Lord Viles major attacks. It was horrific, truly horrific. Hundreds dead, more wounded. All the victims were buried on the opposite side of the lake to the town, just rows and rows of graves, hence the name graves head. Since then the mortals passed down the legend that the town was cursed, mages simply don't return out of a sign of respect, or so they don't have to relive through the horrors that the land was shown."

"Oh" there was silence for the rest of the journey as they pushed the van as fast as it would go, to try and save her.


	5. Chapter 5

_number 5 :) i got really happy before writing this as some pepople actually added me to their favourite stories, and favourite authors :D i did a little dance when i found out, so thank you for that._

_hope you like this one...

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Valkyrie moaned. She was on her own again. She welcomed the loneliness this time, believing it was her only friend. She could manage to pry one eye open half way, but couldn't even try to open the other. She could feel the crusted, dry blood down the side of her face, on her hands, her arms, her legs. She could see the rips in her trousers, and she could no longer move her legs. The beast of a man had broken a bone every time he had punched, and he had punched a lot. Valkyrie tried not to move, but even staying still there was a fire burning through the veins she had left. She could feel a roaring pain in her stomach, and she coughed. More blood. She spat it to the growing pool beneath her on the floor. She could see darker patches on the walls where it had splashed out. Her tunic was basically in shreds, with slices all the way across her body. Every time she wheezed in a painful breath, she could feel the slices shifting, sending shooting pains through her all over again.

When they came back they would just start all over again. Sometimes they even healed some of her wounds, just so they could recreate them again and again. Just slicing away. Each cut making her scream out, as the searing pain was released from the blade. Each punch making her want to throw up from the pain, making her want to close her eyes and never wake back up again. They never let her stay unconscious, never let her be away from the pain for more than one moment. Valkyrie felt two more tears fall down her cheeks and her head drooped. She had given up hope.

She could've been there for hours or days but she didn't care anymore. Her throat hurt from the involuntary screaming. The only part of her face which wasn't caked in the deep scarlet, were the tear tracks pouring down from her eyes to her chin. Her hair was matted and stuck to her face. In these brief moments when she was on her own, she hallucinated.

She saw Tanith, telling her she wouldn't come; Valkyrie was going to destroy the world anyway, so why should she save her. She saw ghastly complaining that she was going to kill everyone. Her parents, her mother holding her baby sister on her hip, her father stroking her beautiful blonde curls, they told her to look into the eyes of the sibling she was going to murder. Fletcher, poor lovely Fletcher, she loved him; but would probably never get to say it again. He was begging her to just leave him alone, he didn't want to die. But skulduggery was the worst to come, and the most frequent. It wasn't that he was blaming her for the end of the world; it wasn't that he was pleading her not to. He wasn't blaming her for the thousands of deaths, or being the reason for his second death. He looked at her with disappointment in his face. Like he was disappointed that she couldn't be strong like him, that she had failed him by being the thing she so desperately didn't want to become. This was worse, because she could never bear to disappoint him. The look of sorrow and sadness on his face, broke her heart again and again, just adding to the torture. He stayed with her in that quiet dark room. He never left, he never helped. Most of the time he barley even spoke, and when Valkyrie whimpered at the pain in her lungs, or winced at the slices on her arms, he simply sighed. She asked him questions some times, but he never answered other than to say that she had failed him.

She had once been told that pain was a good thing, that it told you when you were alive valkyrie thought she might do just about anything to make the pain stop.

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They arrived in graves head at around 9.30 the next morning, and were hit with the realisation of just how cold and twisted the massacres were that had taken place here. You could feel it in the air; every lung full meant more sorrow. The whole place was bleak and miserable. A small patch of death sitting near a lake. The lake stretched out as far as you could see, and even that looked disturbing. The water was a midnight black; looking like tar had filled in the hole where the crystal blue water had once sat. As for the town, it was all greys and black and browns. There was no earth, or grass, or even weeds. As if the earth that the town stood on, was either still in mourning for the tragedies encased in this land, or had been wiped of all sparks of life for the rest of time.

The town of graves head was made up of about 300 houses and an extra 60 buildings. All spread out, taking up much more space than needed. Fletcher's hopes spiralled downwards at the sight of the town. It was going to take them days to search this place. Days they didn't have. Skulduggery started to hand out orders, they were to split up and search separate parts of the town, trying to get through each place quickly, but thoroughly enough that they couldn't overpass where she might be hidden.

He missed her presence. He wanted her there to mock and joke, and to fire sarcastic comments at him. He wanted to hold her and kiss her warm lips once more. What if he never got to kiss her again? What if he never got to say I love you to her again? He loved her so much that it hurt his heart. He needed her to be okay. He thought everybody else did too.

They had been searching endlessly for 7 hours when skulduggery rang them all and told them to get to the boat house by the lake. They were all a good twenty minutes on the other side of town, and since Fletcher couldn't teleport they started running. But skulduggery couldn't wait for them to get there. He had found the boat house near the pier to the midnight lake. It was quite large and had decking out the front, which would have once been beautiful, but now had rotted and left It looking tortured and deformed. The once white blinds had broken or became twisted and mangled. The door was off its hinges and the floors barley looked stable.

Skulduggery had walked in feeling the air on the palms of his hand. He found the spot on the floor where the least dust lay, and examined it. It was when he stood up straight, that the floor started to move down, pulling skulduggery down into the ground. The floor passed his eye line and he was met with a dark stone tunnel, faintly lit by candles. He pulled out his gun and started walking forward.

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_well thats another chapter over and done with... what did you think, please send me some computer love :) xx_


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you al for the reveiws! it makes my heart glow just a little bit everytime i see a new message in my inbox :)

anyywaay... heres a new chapter for ya's. dont quite know how long this story is gunna be, but i dont think it'll be much more... R&R pleease...

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He walked down the corridor, and realised that he must be walking underneath the lake. The walls were damp and cold, and the air was musty. From what he could see the coast was clear. He rounded a corner and came across a fork in the path. He cursed to himself, what was he going to do now? He had to find her before it was too late. He needed to save her for all the times she'd come to rescue him. Not just in the literal sense of saving his life, but also in the way that she brought his humanity back to him. That she made him see the softer side again, to see the beauty in the world. He felt of her as his second daughter, and he damn sure wasn't going to lose this one as well. He needed to find her alive, to save her life, to make up for when he couldn't save his wife and childs all those years ago.

He was willing; almost begging for anything to tell him which direction to go in, when he heard footsteps and laughter coming from the corridor down the right. He heard a conversation between a childish women and a gruff sounding man. They said something about breaking her, how she was sure to reveal herself soon. He knew they were talking about Valkyrie, and he had to stop himself and stand there for ten second in order to calm and not run after them and bludgeon them into the floor for even touching a hair on her head. But he couldn't do that, he had to find her first. Find her and make her safe first and then he could deal with the bad guys after that.

He waited until he could no longer hear them and started silently down the corridor. He came to a heavy stone door, and when he rested his head to it he heard the heart wrenching whimper of Valkyrie. He tried to push the door, but it wouldn't move. He tried to get his fingers in and pull each attempt more desperate then the last. He displaced the air outside of the door creating a vacuum on his side and the door shifted slightly towards him. It was only a small amount but it was movement. He kept at it until he could get his hand in between the door and the wall and he wrenched it open, the base of the door grinding against the floor as it moved.

The room beyond was impossibly dark, but skulduggery had no pupils to absorb the light, so he could see the horrific sight that lay before him. There, suspended about a foot off the ground, was what hung the remains of Valkyrie Cain.

He knew if he had a heart it would have torn in to hundreds of little pieces. She was shackled at the wrist, and from there down all he could see was blood. Dried blood all over her skin, with slices and gashes in between, pouring out new blood. And when he could see her skin, it was mottled and bruised. Half her face was swollen and she had a black eye, a bust lip, a split fore head and a cut on her cheek. Her face was mostly a deep red, apart from the tear streaks running down her cheeks. Her whole body was covered in cuts. Her tunic was practically in shreds. He could see the gashes in her thighs and claves and he followed the blood to the floor, where he found a slowly growing pool beneath Valkyrie. He heard a wheezy breathe and a slow guttural moan from the back of her throat, which nearly killed him all over again. He moved forwards and reached up to work on the cuffs holding her to the wall. They clicked upon and Valkyrie fell onto him, with her arms over his shoulders. He gently shifted her and sat her down, propped up against a wall, as he tried to get a closer examination of her more serious wounds.

"Please just leave me alone." Came the hoarse and quiet whisper from the back of Valkyrie's throat.

"Val, Val? Can you hear me? It's me, I came to get you. You're safe now" he said gently touching the side of her face. She shook her head slightly and a tear escaped her eye.

"No you're not hear, you're never going to come. Please just leave me to die in peace. Please just leave me alone." She whispered again. He wanted to cry, or to scream out at what they had done to her.

He took her jaw gently and shifted it up so her one good eye could look at his face.

"Valkyrie, it's really me. Look at me, I'm here, I'm going to get you out of this." he gently replied as another tear rolled down her cheek. "Oh Val," he whispered "what have I done? I'm so sorry. Valkyrie I will get you out of this."

"i...i dis-disapointed you." she said so quietly, that skulduggery could hardly register hat she had in fact said something. It stung. It hurt worse than a thousand bullet wounds when she said that. She really believed it. That was the worst part.

"You could never disappoint me," and he stooped down lower to see into her sad and broken eyes. "Never in a million years, could you disappoint me."

She looked up at him and more tears escaped her face. He wanted to cry at the sorrow in her eyes. "Skulduggery? You really here?"

He almost laughed despite the situation, but he just leant forward and gave her a gentle hug as he whispered into her ear "yes, I'm really here. And I'm never going to leave Val. Now come on, let's get you out of here." And with that he bent down to slide his arm beneath her mutilated body, and lift her up. He cradled her close to his body, and heard her sigh slightly.


	7. Chapter 7

thank you to eveyone who reveiwed.. you brougt little smiles to my face every time i opened my email account... :)

well heres another chapter to the story, hope you enjoy.

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As he walked back the way that he had came, skulduggery looked down upon his mutilated apprentice. He looked at the blood covering her, at the bruises and cuts, and couldn't help but feel guilty. This was in fact, his fault. He was the reason his best friend was lying in his arms, the reason she had tears running down her face. She was the only family he had left, and now she was trying desperately to round up the last threads of life holding her together.

"Skul..." a weak whisper came from her lips,

"Shh... Val, just stay quiet and stay with me okay? I'm not going to have you die on me now. Not after everything we've been through." He soothed her in gentle tones. He hated to see her like this. Why did he have to hurt her? His shining light and beacon of hope. His best friend. She didn't do anything. She didn't deserve to be treated this way. He hated them for hurting her. Hated himself for letting her get hurt. He couldn't see her die; he'd have no reason to live.

She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, which faltered slightly when she breathed. She breathed out again and her body went limp in his arms as her lids closed. He could feel her pulse beneath his hands and it was growing weaker by the minute. This leant him urgency as he travelled along the dark corridor. It was only when he got back, to the moving floor piece did he see the group of three people rounding the corner. He cursed slightly as the ground started to move up, and they started to sprint towards him.

When skulduggery got to the top he started running. He flew out of the boat house and down the stairs when there was an almighty crash, and he turned to see the remains of the front of the boathouse in rubble, and three people standing on the remains, looking at him.

"Mr. Pleasant, how great it is to see you!" macabre shouted over. "I believe you have something in your possession that, I spent a lot of money, and worked very hard trying to acquire, and I would like it if you would give it back to me."

Skulduggery looked down, at his limp and beaten partner, his rage flaring inside of him. "That _thing_ is far too precious to hand over to the likes of you and I think I'll be taking her away with me. But, please do tell me, why you wanted her in the first place?" skulduggery fought to keep his voice relatively calm, and was thankful for once that he didn't have facial features to give him away. To give away the pure hatred burning from inside his bones.

"The great skeleton detective must know by now? That you are holding in your arms, one of the most destructive weapons in the world? That right there is my ticket to the end of the world."

Skulduggery wanted to tear him limb from limb. He did this to her because of something she couldn't control. Skulduggery hated the way he talked about her as if she was something as lifeless and meaningless as a gun or a sword. He was talking about her as if she was just a piece of metal. Skulduggery growled at him in a fierce tone "she is not a weapon."

"well I intend to use her that way, now please if you wouldn't mind handing her back then we can all be on our way." macabre stared at the skeleton, narrowing his eyes.

Skulduggery felt as if a saw was being pushed through his skull. He gasped slightly at the pain and tried to stay standing. The pain intensified and skulduggery fell to one knee, still holding Valkyrie, his grip tightened as he tried not to cry out from the pain. He wouldn't let macabre defeat him. He wouldn't let Valkyrie be taken away from him. He looked down at her face, and knew she would keep him strong. Her eyes fluttered open.

She knew he was in pain. She could see it in him. She could tell by the slight tremor of his bones. She turned her head and saw macabre and knew what was happening. She turned back "skulduggery?"

"Val... just a ... sec ... I'm ... just ...in... the middle... of someth-"he was cut off by a groan as the pain intensified further.

"Valkyrie." She could hear macabre mocking her; she could hear the laughter in his voice as her best friend fought of the overcoming pain surging through him. "You can make this stop you know, just let our little friend loose and she can make all the pain go away. I know she can hear us and I bet she is eager to come out and play." He was talking about Darquesse and he was right. Valkyrie could feel her pushing at the back of her mind, could feel her dark and twisted thoughts as she was eager to inflict pain. She had to fight her. All the time she was being tortured and Darquesse had not been there, but now, now that skulduggery, her best friend and mentor was in pain, she could feel her trying to break through. She knew what was going to happen before it did. She knew what she was going to do, but no idea how.

"Skulduggery, hold on." He looked down at her with his jaw clenched. He nodded, and shouted something over his shoulder, but Valkyrie missed what it was. She felt an explosion of darkness erupt from her being. She felt it take over and flow out through every pore. She cried out and felt skulduggery's grip on her slipping. Then there was just black.

* * *

Tanith rounded the corner to a worrying sight. Skulduggery on one knee, with Valkyrie limp in his arms. She went to run forward when she heard skulduggery shout and then Ghastlys hands around her waist, pulling her to the floor. She covered her head as she saw a dome of black explode out from skulduggery, encasing him and Valkyrie, and reaching out to the front of the boat house and close around macabre and his two Hench friends. Then a white light spread out and blinded Tanith. When it all went back to normal and she blinked the spots away from her sight, she was on her feet, with Ghastlys strong hand on her shoulder to steady her. She looked up and saw macabre and his two Hench men lying on the floor not moving. She hoped they were dead. She looked back to where skulduggery had been kneeling and found him and Valkyrie lying on the floor. They ran over and ghastly lifted up skulduggery, talking to him, trying to see if he was still alive. He wasn't moving. Tanith looked down at the mangled body of her little sister and a tear fell from her cheek. She reached down to check her bloody neck and her heart lifted when she felt a faint pulse. She heard, skulduggery groan. They were alive. Tanith breathed out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

"Fletcher!" he was next to her within a second.

"Val…" he whispered reaching down to touch her beaten and bloody face.

"Fletch she's alive, she's okay" Tanith spoke softly and with a gentle tone. "She's alive, but not for much longer unless we get her to kenspeckle. Drop her then come back for skulduggery okay? Then wait there, me and ghastly will drive back in the Bentley and the van."

H e just nodded and took Valkyrie's hand. Then they were gone. Tanith looked over to ghastly, who was checking the pulse of macabre. He looked up and shook his head. Thank god they were dead. He walked back over to skulduggery, who gave out another strangled groan. It sounded painful, but at least he was alive.

Fletcher came back and lifted skulduggery up and put his arm underneath his shoulders. Ghastly said something to his friend and then when Fletcher had gone he came over to where Tanith was standing. She was looking out towards the lake. His strong arms wrapped around her waist and she leaned back into him. The sun was going down, and if she could remove the image of Valkyrie from her mind, then it would probably have been quite beautiful. But she could still see her lifeless, bloodied form and a tear fell from her eye. Ghastly turned her around and tiled her chin up. He gently wiped the tear away from her cheek, and lightly kissed her on the forehead. She leant her head against his chest, and he pulled his arms around her tighter. He felt the warmth of her body unite with his. He loved her and would always love her. He hated seeing her cry. it was like a little peice of him died everytime there was a tear on her cheek. he had only slightly seen valkyries injuries as he had gone to tend to skul, but from what he saw he could understand the tears in her eyes. When he got to skul he truly belevied that he wasnt goning to get back up. he had only seen that sort of attack once, in the war. it was a deep form of necromancy which just obliterated everything in its path. he assumed it had been created from valkyrie, since she was still alive, but that didnt explain why skulduggery had survived it. Tanith breathed out heavily, he lent down and buried his face in her golden hair.

"She's going to be okay," he whispered into her ear. She just nodded slightly. They stayed like that for a minute longer when she mumbled "we'd best get driving now, it's a long way back. Do you want to take the Bentley?"

Ghastly shifted back a little and pulled Tanith's face up towards his gently. He cupped her face with his big hands, and his lips met hers. She slid her arms up around his neck and he pulled her into him tighter. When they pulled away, he leant down and spoke into her ear.

"Why don't we just take the Bentley back tonight and we can come back and get the van later?"He looked down into her eyes, and he saw them glistening with tears. She nodded and they walked back to the van together.

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so, go on, you know you want to hit the little reveiw button and give me your thougts on this chapter. also if you wanna give me any ideas then ill listen :)


	8. Chapter 8

heya im back, hope your enjoyig ts so far. tan you for the lovely reveiws! some one called me an artist :D and i was added to peoples favourite author lists! i feel so loved! any way hope you like this.

oh and if i forgot earlier i dont own any carachters other then macabre and his cronies. yeah and enjoy...

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Kenspeckle looked up at the faint popping noise coming from the medical bay. He stood and shuffled out of the dark and lonely lab he had been working in. He came to find the Fletcher boy leaning over a bed.

"What do you want?" kenspeckle asked gruffly, when Fletcher moved aside he saw a sight to drop his heart into his knees. Valkyrie Cain, or what was left of her, was lying in the bed that Fletcher had been standing next to. It was the worst he had ever seen her. There was just blood and bruises covering her body. She was unconscious and her wheezy breathing was short and softening. He was going to have to work fast to get her into a safe position.

"Can you save her?" the Fletcher boy whispered, his eyes were tortured. Kenspeckle softened slightly towards him when he saw that the boy had true feelings for Valkyrie. True despair and worry.

"I can try, but you're going to have to wait out there." He said softly whilst nodding to the door. He started looking over Valkyrie and gathering thins from the trolley across the room.

"I have to go back and get skulduggery, he's hurt too."

Kenspeckle raised an eyebrow. It was not often that the skeleton got hurt also. "Very well, bring him to that bed there," and he pointed to the bed across the room. The Fletcher boy left, and kenspeckle started wiping a cloth, soaked in a blue liquid, over her cuts removing the blood almost instantaneously. That was when he saw the true extent of her injuries. It was the first time in years that the professor felt a lump in his throat. This little girl, this innocent little girl had been pulled into a world of danger and abuse, and now was lying in front of him with more injuries than could be counted. He always dreaded when she came in. What if it was life threatening and he couldn't save her? That was the real reason behind his anger towards the skeleton. Yes he dragged her into life threatening situations, but kenspeckle could tell that he thought greatly of her. He could tell that she was like his second daughter. But the fact that there might be one time, just one, that he couldn't fix her, made him angry. So he took it out on the skeleton, trying to stop him from leading her into battle, so that could never happen.

He heard the popping again from behind him, and Fletcher grunting as he lifted the skeleton on the bed. Kenspeckle gestured for him to leave, and he walked through the double doors. Kenspeckle would treat the skeleton later, after he had started with Valkyrie. He started to rub a green gel on the each of her individual cuts. After about 20 minutes had had covered each of the slices and he set to work on the broken bones. This was going to take a while.

After an hour and a half's work on Valkyrie, the tired professor turned around to inspect the skeleton, who hadn't moved since he had been here but had given off pained moans every now and then. Valkyrie was going to need more work to deal with the bruises, but for now he had to let the medicine do its work. He leaned over the skeleton, and shone a torch into his skull. Flicked it a few times and then gave him a slap around the back of head. Skulduggery twitched, groaned loudly, and raised his hand to his head. He sat up slowly and swung his legs of the bed.

"Valkyrie!" he gasped and shot up, only to sway on his feet and fall back down onto the bed. Kenspeckle placed his hand onto skulduggery's shoulder to keep him sitting down.

"Skeleton sit still, valkyrie is stable and mending." He removed his hand and turned around. When he turned back, skulduggery had his head in his hands and was shaking slightly.

"It's my fault...why her...I could've..I should've got there sooner...I let her loose...I can't save her...i didn't save them..." he was mumbling and rambling to himself like a mad man. The professor had only seen him this way a few times before. He was usually better at holding himself together. This is like when he lost his wife and little girl, all those years ago. The professor walked over and shook skulduggery's shoulder slightly. His head flicked u as if he was awakening from a sleep, or a trance, and he coughed. He wiped a hand over his skul and looked up at the professor. The professor looked down at him.

"I know you know that I don't like you very much, but I understand that you care very greatly for Valkyrie, and you would do almost anything to save her, even though you are mostly the reason behind the need in the first place. But even I can tell that this was not your fault. She is not them, skulduggery. You can't beat yourself up about this. Let it go, she is going to be okay."

"No! She's not going to be okay! I'm not going to be able to save her! I'm going to fight and die and then she'll be lost forever. You don't understand! She's going to die, or worse and I won't be there to save her!" skulduggery had shot up from the bed and towered over the professor. Now he sat down slowly, held his head in his hands and whispered "I can't lose her like I lost them. I jus...I just can't do it again kenspeckle. I can't lose her..."

Kenspeckle pitied and felt slightly warmer towards the skeleton, having seen his slight breakdown, he now knew that the skeleton cared for Valkyrie as if she was his own daughter. He could see that it pained him every time he saw her get hurt, and that if she died, he might well have no reason left to live. "Skulduggery... you can't think of this as your fault. You are going to have to be strong enough to help her through whatever it is coming to get her. You will be able to save her... I know you will."

Skulduggery nodded slightly and turned his head, so the professor could wipe a purple cream on the crack which had formed on his skul. After a few minutes skulduggery spoke again.

"I think that's the first time you've been nice to me in year's kenspeckle."

"Don't get used to it." And they returned to the comfortable silence, not until kenspeckle had told him that he was to sit still and let the medicine heal him for at least an hour, and of course threatening him if he could not manage to do so.

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yeah i hope you enjoyed it.. i couldnt thnk of a way for skulduggery to have an anger explosion, so i gave him some sort of breakdown instead. oh and thak you Adrasdos24 for the kenspeckle idea :) i hope i did it justice...  



	9. Chapter 9

_Hey, I'm back and sorry I was kinda slow in the updates, I got distracted by pure mountains of coursework! Anyway just to point out that this is not valduggery and it isn't intending to be, sorry for the lovers out there, but in this Skul see's her as his second daughter, so no romance between the two._

_ah well i hope you enjoy..._

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Skulduggery was sitting on a chair in the corner of valkyries room. He hadn't left since he'd spoken to the professor, he didn't want to leave her alone. His skull had healed and now he was meditating. Fletcher was sitting at the side of the bed, having been finally let in. He had his hand gently wrapped around valkyries and he was stroking the back with his thumb. He had his arms folded, resting on the bed with his chin resting on them. He was looking up at valkyries face. She looked just like she was sleeping; she was so peaceful and beautiful. Her face was so pale and she looked small and helpless in the bed, it seemed to swallow her in its mass of sheets, completley contradicting valkyrie as a person. She still had bandages wrapped around her arms and torso, and had one on her cheek, with another on he forehead. She was still bruised and the professor had said that he would fix that in an hour or so, but that for now she had to rest and the medicine had to do its work. Fletcher felt a tear work its way out of his eye, tickling his cheek as it fell from his face and on to his arm. He sighed and wiped the track from his face and then rested his head down again. He'd been sitting like this for at least an hour now, only slightly moving to readjust his seat, or wipe a stray and disobedient tear from his cheek. Val hadn't moved since he sat down, other than the occasional flutter of an eyelid.

Her hand twitched and then grasped fletchers tightly. He lifted his head quickly, "Val? Val can you hear me?" he said softly, rising from his seat. Her eyelids fluttered open.

"Where am I?" She asked, in a quiet and hoarse voice, she didn't look as if she quite believed it.

"Val, you're in Kenspeckles lab. Val can you hear me?" he asked again, worry worming its way into his voice.

"Fletch?" she turned to look at him, "is that really you?" she reached out a hand to his face and touched the cheek. He leaned forward and gently placed his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes and sighed, with a smile on her face. He kissed her softly on the lips and she reached an arm around his neck. He broke away and smiled. "Welcome back." He whispered.

She smiled but it faded and she began to look panicked again, she sat up quickly and looked around the room. When she saw skulduggery her eyes widened, "h- he is alive… isn't he?" she asked quietly, despair forming in her eyes.

Fletcher laughed at her and threw a pillow at skulduggery's head. He twitched, and tilted his skull, "Why must everyone insist on waking me up by hitting me, or throwing something at me?"

Valkyrie suddenly smiled and leaned back against the pillows, sighing at the same time. Skulduggery stood up and came to stand at the other side of the bed. He tilted his head again and chuckled, "what you actually thought you killed the amazing me? No my dear, overlooking the fact that I am already dead, you did not succeed in killing me." She smiled back at him; he lowered his voice and gently asked "how are you though?"

She lowered her eyes to the bandages on her arms and sighed, "Kenspeckle must have me on some sort of super painkiller because I can't feel anything, but by the looks of things they really went at me. How bad was I, or do I not want to know?" she said after looking around at Fletch, who looked at the ground and avoided her gaze, the sadness showing in his features. It was almost as if his hair drooped.

"You don't want to know." Skulduggery replied very quietly and she turned and looked into his empty eye sockets, she could see the pain on his emotionless face.

"Oh... that bad?" valkyrie said softly, looking at the two now silently trying to avoid her gaze, "Hey, well at least I'm okay-ish now!" she smiled warmly at them both, trying to reassure them that she was, in fact okay.

"Valkyrie... what do you remember?" skulduggery asked quietly, turning to face her again.

"Ah I wondered when this would come up..." Valkyrie turned her face away from skulduggery's. Fletcher looked between them both and took the hint that it was time to leave. He leant down and turned Valkyrie's head, kissing her softly on the lips trying not to break her already fragile body. "I think I'm gunna go and wait outside for a bit," he squeezed Valkyrie's hand and turned towards the door, "oh and Val, I love you."

She smiled at him and he left. Once Fletcher had gone Valkyrie was met with a bone crushing hug as skulduggery's arms wrapped around her shoulders and squeezed, like he was afraid she was going to disappear again.

"I nearly lost you." Skulduggery whispered when he pulled back, he sat down on the chair beside the bed and rested his head in his hands.

"Hey, I'm alright now though, skul, look at me! I'm perfectly fine, well fine-ish, but I'll heal... it's alright, I'm still here." She knew he saw her almost the same as his daughter and remembered the pain shown on his skull when he thought about the injuries she'd had. This must have killed him. He looked up into her eyes and tilted his head into a slight smile; she reached out and took his hand.

"Valkyrie, what do you remember of your..." he struggled to find the right word for the situation, "... experience?"

She blushed slightly and then looked away from him, removing her hand from his in the process. Should she tell him about the hallucinations? About the amount of times she had seen everyone? How much it had hurt her to hear him say that he was disappointed? No. She buried them thoughts down deep, and willed herself to never let them resurface.

"I remember waking up there... and being suspended, and I remember Macabre talking about how he wanted to use Darquesse as a weapon against the world, and I was telling him it couldn't be done, but he never listened. Then he left me with... them, a-and t-they, well they..." she couldn't bring herself to think back on those torturous hours.

"It's okay Val, just what happened after that?"Skulduggery spoke gently, trying to soothe her.

"I passed out, and woke up to see you," a tear worked its way down her cheek, carving a glistening path down her face and dropping softly onto the bed. "And then I woke up again in your arms, and the pain in your voice and on your face..." another tear, but this time skulduggery caught it on his finger before it could reach her cheek, "I could feel _her_ playing at the sides of my mind trying to break free, but I fought her down. Then it was just like I knew, like I knew what was going to happen but not how, and then I remember darkness and nothing. I woke up here again." She didn't tell him that it was the sight of him being tortured that had surfaced Darquesse, or that she didn't know whether or not the _thing_ that happened was going to kill him or not. She was shaking her head slowly, not looking at skulduggery and shivering slightly from the memories playing across her mind. Of the feeling of Darquesse trying to escape, the last time she was Darquesse and the hideous things she had done, of the look on skulduggery's face. She shuddered and tried to shake them away. She felt a weight lay gently on her shoulder and turned to see skulduggery's hand there.

"It's okay, you fought her off. Val, you felt Darquesse and you kept her hidden. Do you know how much strength that takes? You stayed under control, and most importantly, you stayed you! You saved all of our lives and you did it as you. Valkyrie Cain, and no one else."

She looked to him and a small smile played across her lips, "thank you," she whispered, almost inaudible.

"It's what I'm here for." He said gently back.

They were silent for a few moments but then Valkyrie's quiet voice spoke up again, "skul?"

"Hmm?"

"What if I can't stop it or control it next time? What happens then? I don't want to become her, but what if I'm not strong enough to not become her?" Valkyrie's voice broke on the last line, she was trying to keep herself together but it wasn't working out for her.

"Valkyrie," skulduggery's voice was almost at a whisper now, "the fact that you've already tried to fight her down twice now, is enough to prove that you are getting stronger and stronger, and if we keep working on that, then when the time comes you will be able to fight her off, I know you will. And Valkyrie I'm always going to be here, me, Fletcher, Ghastly and Tanith. We aren't going to leave you, and we won't let this happen to you. Val I mean it."

"Thank you." Her voice less than a whisper, as she reached for skulduggery's out stretched hand, as he squeezed gently, reassuring her that his words were true.

They sat like this for a while until Kenspeckle came back in with Fletcher at his heels.

"Valkyrie, so glad to see you awake again." He gave her a reassuring smile, and turned to Skulduggery, "now if you and the witless wonder would care to leave, I have to conduct some tests to check on our dear Valkyrie here." And he ushered both of the men out of the medical bay, whilst being met with many a grumble.

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_That button right there is just calling out to be pressed,_

_VVVVVVVVV_

_(go on! you know you want to)_


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